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BEGINNING OF A LEGACY
Felisha Legette-Jack was named the eighth head women's basketball coach at Indiana University on April 19, 2006, and wasted little time, as she led the Hoosiers to a season-opening 7-1 mark, the best since the 2000-01 squad led off that year with a 7-0 record.
Indiana's memorable beginning of the Legette-Jack era, which included an upset of then-No. 15 Kentucky and the Women's Sports Foundation Classic tournament title, gained national attention with votes in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls. With the confidence from a successful 13-4 non-conference record, Indiana kept rolling as Legette-Jack and the Hoosiers recorded key Big Ten wins over Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, before knocking off Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on March 1. IU's success in the Big Ten also gained the squad attention as the Hoosiers earned the honors of Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year in Jamie Braun and an All-Big Ten Third Team selection in Sarah McKay.
Legette-Jack and the Hoosiers' success during the regular season resulted in Indiana's second straight trip to the postseason. The Hoosiers defeated Iona in the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament, 74-71, in Assembly Hall on March 18. Despite falling in the third round of the WNIT, Indiana wrapped up the season with an overall mark of 19-14 and a record of 12-3 in Assembly Hall.
USA BASKETBALL
Before her arrival in Bloomington, Legette-Jack, who served on two USA Basketball gold medal-winning coaching staffs and guided Hofstra to one of its best seasons in school history in 2005-06. The Pride's 19 victories were the second-best in school history, and the 12 league triumphs tied a school record. The Pride's success in Legette-Jack's final season as head coach culminated into the program's first-ever trip to the WNIT. In addition to the team success, Hofstra ranked among the CAA's top three in scoring offense (second, 69.5 ppg), field goal percentage defense (.379), rebounding offense (second, 43.0), rebounding margin (third, +3.9), assists per game (second, 16.0), steals (second, 11.03), offensive rebounds (second, 16.73), defensive rebounds (second, 26.27) and three-point field goals per game (third, 5.37).
Legette-Jack played an instrumental role in helping USA Basketball to the 2005 FIBA U19 World Championship in Tunisia in 2006. Legette-Jack served as an assistant to Texas' Gail Goestenkors on a U.S. team that averaged 105.9 points per game and posted an impressive 46.3 point per game margin of victory. The U.S. team is just the third to finish the U19 World Championships undefeated, and it is the first team to post an 8-0 ledger.
AT HOFSTRA
In her first three years at Hofstra, Legette-Jack guided the Pride to the CAA Tournament quarterfinals each year, and she earned 2003-04 CAA Coach of the Year honors after Hofstra went 14-14 overall and 11-7 in the league. The 11 league victories marked the most for Hofstra in 10 years. Hofstra's 27 victories from 2003-05 were the most in consecutive years since Hofstra won 39 games from 1982-84.
Legette-Jack's 2003-04 season was memorable in more ways than one. In the summer of 2003, Legette-Jack assisted Ohio State coach Jim Foster with the gold medal-winning USA Basketball FIBA World Championship For Young Women Team in Sibenik, Croatia. That club featured the eventual top two picks of the 2006 WNBA Draft - LSU's Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx) and Rutgers' Cappie Pondexter (Phoenix Mercury).
BIG TEN EXPOSURE
Legette-Jack arrived at Hofstra after two years as an assistant to Joanne P. McCallie at Michigan State. Legette-Jack served as the Spartans' recruiting coordinator, supervised the team's academic progress, conditioning programs and helped sign the nation's 14th-best recruiting class in 2001-02. Legette-Jack helped orchestrate one of the nation's top turnarounds from 2000-01 to 2001-02. In 2000-01, MSU was 10-18 overall, but the Spartans responded by posting a 19-13 record in 2001-02, capped by a WNIT semifinal appearance. The 19 wins included three triumphs over nationally-ranked opponents. She recruited the nucleus of the Spartans' 2005 national finalist club.
Legette-Jack worked as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at her alma mater, Syracuse, from 1993-00. In addition to handling to team travel, tape exchange and overseeing the conditioning program, Legette-Jack recruited two Gatorade Players of the Year to the Orange. Syracuse also boasted a 100 percent graduation rate during her tenure.
PRIDE OF THE ORANGE
A 1989 Syracuse graduate with a double major in child and family studies and psychology, Legette-Jack scored 1,526 points and grabbed 927 rebounds. Legette-Jack is the second-leading scorer and all-time leading rebounder in Syracuse history. She won 1985 BIG EAST Rookie of the Year honors and earned all-league laurels three times in her career. An inductee into the Greater Syracuse Hall of Fame, the Syracuse Urban League Hall of Fame and the Syracuse University Orange Plus Hall of Fame, Legette-Jack was one of 15 players named to the BIG EAST Conference Silver Anniversary Team in 2004.
After graduation from Syracuse, Legette-Jack became head girls basketball coach at Westhill High School in Syracuse. She posted a 26-13 ledger in two seasons there, and five of her players earned Division I scholarships. Legette-Jack then spent two years as an assistant coach at Boston College, where the Golden Eagles recorded a 100 percent graduation rate during her tenure.
PERSONAL
Born Sept. 4, 1966, in Syracuse, Legette-Jack and her husband, David, have an eight-year-old son, David Maceo.